Interview by QANDA

After the success of Idol, Mello and Eurovision, Robin Stjernberg looks instead inward. The EP 'Under Water' is an open popsoul letter to himself that the most important thing will always be the music.

With the hand on the heart, all these songs are strong enough to be released as single. So it does not feel like you tried to pull it out at all with these four songs on the EP ...

Thank you, and I agree! The reason was probably that both me and my team felt to get out more songs at the same time, as I did not release more than one single at a time since 'Pieces' came!

Can I bit hasty interpret it further as there is more?

- Yes, there are more songs! But they will I start releasing this spring

Why did not Love come with?

- Simply because it was not written during this period and therefore broke the "concept" compared to the new songs, even though I love it just as much! These songs are held together by being open letters that I wrote to myself, where I tell about the different stages I've gone through and I've learned too much about the music.

Also purely musical, they are held together because I fully support the threads both in the writing and now in the productions! This means that although the songs are quite different, they have a uniform sound...

Where I am the common denominator.

'Under Water' felt like a fitting "umbrella name" since the whole EP is about my inner journey with the goal of loving and accepting myself as I am that I will come to the surface.

It feels like you have come to your right now. You feel more you and genuine now what I've perceived-to you as before. It shines through the songs. Is that a thought you can recognize at all?

- I understand it clearly! After all, it has taken time. Idol and Melodifestivalen has been fantastic for my career, but in order to find myself both on and off the stage and not least musically, I have had to spend all the hours and more or less got to unlock myself to develop. To develop in a direction I chose. And it's so bad that you think it's heard!

Did you know who you were when you stood before Eurovision's 170 million audience?

- Yes, wow ... I'd been twenty-two years old and of course I did not really know who I was. But that's so big a question, do I still know that? Do you know anything? All I knew was that I loved every minute of standing on stage and singing my songs. And I still do that. For me, the most important thing has been the music and I have always tried to keep my focus.

What did you feel when you stood there on stage?

"Being on the stage and singing was actually not so nervous when it was in Eurovision. I had been "practiced" by Mello and had a wonderful support from the home crowd in Skåne. So that was just fun!

There will be many ghostly evening press articles in such contexts...

"The attention you can get then is just a part of it, and you have to get used to and choose yourself if you want to comment or not, so it's pretty nice.

Since then, you have written a lot for other artists, including last year's 'I Can not Go On' winner, which also took Robin Bengtsson to Eurovision. What has made you write to other artists?

- Good question! I actually do not know yet. But the whole process of constantly sitting and writing does not make it even worse. I'm probably in the studio six days a week, it's different. Sometimes I have cut fifteen-sixteen hours a day. Which is quite a lot. But I try to keep it at a reasonable level in order not to tire the brain. But it's somehow a little bit like any job. You get faster on finding solutions in the creation, so I suppose I responded to it! (Laughing)

You also did 'Last Word' with Niello. Do you want to do more in Swedish?

- Absolutely, but it will probably take a while! My ambition is to take me outside Sweden's borders with my music right now, and the easiest tool is to sing in English.

Talking about him can you also rap?

- I love to rap! It's not too many people who have heard it, but in my computer there are about ten songs where I get rid of homemade beats ... (laughs)

Of course, it's another thing when you make music to others, but in your own music you often sit with other songwriters? How do you make sure that you really are "coming to the surface" in the end?

"It is about finding people whom you trust and who are as open as one is in the creation. It is magical to also get direct feedback that you are not alone in your feelings and thoughts, because then you also get an answer and a receipt that what you write is related. The songs are self-perceived to one hundred percent when written to myself. It is important to me. Above all, I'll feel what I'm writing.

Have noticed that the songs usually get better then.

If I'm writing with others, we usually start the day by sitting and talking about everything or nothing, important as unimportant things. And then something just pops out of the conversation. But it can also start, actually too-key now when I'm thinking about playing around with chords on the piano.

I usually let the tunes set the tone for what the song is about. "Do these chords feel sad or happy?" "Is it a melancholy story or a happy one?" and so on. It's everyday, my own feelings, but also people who inspire me. Like the people I wrote the music with for example.

'I Don´t' is about how negative thoughts affect and stand in our way? When did you feel so?

-Exactly! Today I have one such day for example. Everything is a bit gray outside the studio and my flow is not real as it usually is. But I'll get it through because I've learned what I need to do to feel good! I almost think it's a constant feeling or in case one knocks one on the shoulder a little bit from time to time. It just applies to being prepared and shaking back so that you do not let the mind down.

It's not least four soul songs. How do you relate to the soul?

- Love that kind of music, of course. Soul is clearly in the stories, and then it became natural that the souvenir got married with the lyrics and, above all, it felt natural with my voice.

Will it be able to see something you live now?

- I have just started a soundcheck period. I'm sitting and trying to learn a loop machine to "spicea" my live set. Exciting, but difficult. I will have some gig in the fall and winter and also do a showcase in the Atlantis studio on 21 November. So I look forward to it!

Right now, I have a goal of getting started and perform more this spring and summer especially, so put me on any stage, I will not get off. For now I have spent enough time down in the studio. It's time to get out and play

What would you say has been your most memorable gig so far?

- Most memorable? Hmm! Eurovision is clearly up there. But I have to say the summer tour that I had after that, it's unforgettable. So far, it's the funniest thing I've done live, to have a tour with my best friends and meet a lot of lovely people who like my music!